By PHIL JARRATT
AS Stephanie Gilmore held her breath on a windy cliff at Honolua last week, and Carissa Moore stomped on a rail and brought Tyler Wright’s title hopes crashing down, the greatest female surfer in history (still, although Steph is closing the gap) watched the final minutes of the final of the Target Womens Pro on her iPad screen with hubby Kirk Pengilly in a sun-filled Outrigger Little Hastings Street apartment overlooking Laguna Bay.
Layne Beachley was going to be delighted either way, of course. The seven-times world champion loves being number one in the record books of course, but more importantly, she’s a patriot. Aussie, Aussie, Aussie, oy, oy, oy! Okay, the Hawaiian Moore got in the way of our trifecta, but it had been a great year for the Aussie girls, and a great year for the women’s pro tour. Carissa’s victory over Tyler Wright in the Maui final meant that Gilmore had claimed her sixth world title at age 26, the same age Layne was when she claimed her first, after eight years of trying.
Steph Gilmore is back at her best, with plenty of tour years left in her. If you were a betting man, you’d put money on her equalling Layne’s record in the years to come, and probably going past her. Being such a competitive animal, Layne is never going to be completely happy with that, but she is also a superb motivator and team player (as showed at the London Olympics), so a big chunk of her wants nothing more than success for “her girls”.
As we drove to the airport last Friday morning, Layne was in a mood to reflect on the conclusion of a stellar year for women’s surfing.
“The number one change is the prize-money, of course. When I was on tour it took me 20 years to win half a million dollars. This year, if one girl won every event she would have pocketed $600,000. That has really fuelled the competitiveness of the tour, and also the general interest in it.
“Secondly, there’s the amount of attention, recognition and respect for the women we’re seeing on tour now. I remember constantly having to fight for that. There was a general lack of belief in the potential of women’s surfing, whereas now it’s being promoted, endorsed and supported. Now the people putting their hands in their pockets are true believers in women’s surfing. The respect that flows from that has rolled over into increased prize-money, more events and better marketing in general.”
Layne believes the new-look tour’s greatest assets are the girls themselves: “I’ve always believed that surfing has no greater marketing tool than the women’s tour, and you need look no further than the top five, starting with Stephanie Gilmore and Sally Fitzgibbons. They’re both beautiful girls who are great role models and incredible athletes who are respected around the world. Tyler Wright, Carissa Moore and Malia Manuel are also extraordinary beautiful talents that are generous with their time and appreciative of the opportunity.”
She continues: “I think the women’s tour has made more progress than the men’s this year. Putting on my Olympic athlete liaison hat, my analogy would be that the men’s tour is like the Olympic swimming squad and the women’s is like the boxing squad. The women have never had this kind of investment before and they’re soaking it up, whereas some of the men – and I don’t wish to offend by saying this – seem to have developed an air of entitlement. They’ve been on this journey a lot longer, they know what they want and they’re perhaps not as malleable as the women. The women are just going, wow, this is amazing! They need to keep that sense of gratitude, to make sure the level of investment and support continues.”
Filming Pure Stoke
Layne Beachley was in town to help me and the Panga Productions team put the finishing touches on our documentary, 8 Days Of Pure Stoke, which tells the story of surfing in Noosa and along the Sunshine Coast, and the role the Cricks Noosa Festival of Surfing has played over the last couple of decades.
Layne, the festival’s unofficial ambassador for many years, is our star presenter, and also conducts several of the interviews. A shortboarder all her life, last week she learnt the finer points of nose-riding from Matt Cuddihy, tried a few beach lifts with tandem star Fred Branger, and went global on social media when dog whisperer Chris De Aboitiz taught her the basics of dog surfing.
Layne and INXS star hubby Kirk also found time to join the Tourism Noosa crew for a drink at Eumundi’s Green Room.
8 Days Of Pure Stoke, produced with the support of Tourism Noosa and Sunshine Coast Destination Ltd, is expected to be completed pre-Christmas and have its debut screenings over the holidays.
